“I was definitely really relaxed but kind of nervous at the same time – just a little mixture of feelings,” Gilmore said. “As defending event champ and defending world champ, I guess it put some pressure on me to win this event so it feels good to win.” . . . “It’s really tough,” Gilmore said. “They’re hungry and I think when you start off the year with not the result you were looking for, you just go into the next event even more focused and more hungry and it’s just getting harder and harder from here and then. She (Bartels) was one of the few girls really pushing us towards progressive maneuvers and really using that judging criteria to her advantage, so I’m definitely going to have to surf it up for the next events.”
We’ll go out on a limb and guess that Steph will win most of the events this year. Follow the jump for all the details. . . [click to continue…]
Taj Burrow saved his charge for the last half of the final against South Africa’s Jordy Smith after sitting out most of the first half of the 40 minute heat of the Quiksilver Pro 2010 at Snapper Rocks. In the second 20 minutes Burrow kicked out a 7.4, followed by a 6.17, and then hammered the final shut with a 8.17 wave. Taj spent the last four minutes of the heat sitting on Jordy to make sure he could not answer back. He didn’t. Taj finished with a 15.57 to Jordy’s 12.56.
With this win Taj followed up his 2009 Pipeline Masters win with his second consecutive title on the ASP WCT tour and third consecutive contest win.
“I’m normally pretty inconsistent,” Taj said from the stage. “I’m blown away. I’m so happy right now. It’s the best feeling on earth. I don’t even know what to say. It’s so good to be in front of this huge crowd at home. I want to thank everyone, everywhere. My grandma in Arizona. It was my mom’s birthday yesterday.”
Jordy Smith had a great run, but as Bobby Martinez predicted earlier in the day: it came down to the waves. “This is my first final. I’m sorry the waves didn’t come through for all of you, but Taj got some great waves,” second place Jordy Smith said. “Congratulations Taj, you surfed a great final.”
Later today, if the semi-finals of the Quiksilver Pro 2010 runs at Snapper Rock, the lone Australian Taj Burrow will go up against Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds (pictured above) will battle Jordy Smith.
What happened to everyone else? Out in a Round 4 massacre that included Ace Buchan, Damien Hobgood, Chris Davidson, Mick Fanning, Daniel Ross, Freddy P, Kieren Perrow and Kelly Slater who got eliminated by Jordy Smith.
Round 3 eliminations at the Quik Pro 2010 at Snapper Rocks are currently in progress and live on the Internet. Thanks to three to four foot waves at Snapper Rocks organizers got an early start with the first heat beginning at 7:30 AM local time.
Today’s round 3 match-ups look like this:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 2: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)
Heat 7: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 10: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 11: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 13: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 14: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)
Heat 15: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 16: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Have to admit that we’re kind of surf filmed out, but it is good to see people like Joe G working diligently to keep if fresh. Stab magazine interviewed Joe on his new “concept experiment” for Globe.
You can watch “a rad surf part” everywhere these days and to me almost everything looks the same. I want the video tests to be what I see as an audiovisual experiment – something a bit different. Maybe an alternate music video for the song. Maybe something trippy that just so happens to have a few surf clips in it. Dunno. We’re basically just bored with a lot of the things we usually see in surf and like to try different takes on it.
While the total number of shark attacks worldwide increased from 60 to 61 between 2008 and 2009 the number of attacks in the United States have dropped from 50 in 2007 to only 28 in 2009, according to a story in the Palm Beach Post. That’s the good news.
Worldwide, George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at University of Florida said, more than half of the people who suffered shark attacks last year were surfers. . . Despite the decline over the past few years, Burgess says the number of shark attacks has risen to unprecedented levels over the past decade. . . “As scientists we don’t get so excited about individual years and tend to look at things in terms of decades,” Burgess said.
“Unprecedented levels” doesn’t sound so good. . . neither does Burgess getting “too excited.”
After the tsunami scare on Sunday, the Quiksilver Pro 2010 got right back on track with eight heats of round two and the first extreme eliminations from the event. All the favorites made it through including; Taj Burrow, C.J. Hobgood, Bobby Martinez, Damien Hobgood, Dane Reynolds, Jordy Smith, Kieren Perrow, and Freddy P.
Reynolds seemed relieved. “I was happy they ran it today,” Reynolds said. “The other morning, I kind of got sacrificed for the tide because they have to start at a certain point to finish the round, and the first heat they’re going to start in bad surf. But today it’s really fun out there and they made a great call.”
Follow the jump for the results and the rest of the round 2 draw. [click to continue…]
Now everyone can get exactly what they want on their own trunks thanks to a California company called Shortomatic. Building a pair of trunks with a customized graphic on it is as easy as selecting a waist and leg length and then uploading some art (photo, pattern, graphic) and pressing send. Shortomatic will then make your shorts (in the USA) and send them back to you.
We believe that while there is so much personal style and competition applied to water bound pursuits, then surely the equipment should reflect the same level of distinction. . . . Boardshorts obviously have their roots in popular surf culture, but our approach is much wider then this niche; we think of our product as the new ‘swimming trunk’. As at home in the swimming pool, hot tub or lake as on the beach, a board or just plain sunbathing!
The only problem? The shorts cost about $100 a piece. . . but you can get your name in the waistband. Wonder if they’d let us make some mangina trunks?
In the LA Times former outdoor blogger Pete Thomas profiles San Clemente, Calfironia’s three Gudauskas brothers who nearly all made the ASP World Cup Tour together. Pat and Tanner did. Dane did not. But as no one will find surprising, Dane takes it all in with a positive spin.
Says Dane: “Everyone was on their own journey, but we were all trying together so it was like we were all part of every win and loss, so it was hard. But to see it come down to that final competition was pretty cool, and to see it go in a positive direction for those guys was a really nice treat.”
